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The plates were still piled high on the empty tables; she’d been so busy serving customers and — he assumed — cooking the food, that she hadn’t had a chance to get to them. It wasn’t the usual practice where he was from for customers to help out, but he was a long way from home now, and he couldn’t sit idly by and watch this beautiful woman drown. It didn’t look like anyone else was going to jump in, so why not him?
Before he knew what he was doing, Emile was on his feet, grabbing dirty plates and cups from the table next to his. He tried not to look at them too closely; other people’s leftovers were hardly something he usually concerned himself with and, not having eaten solid food since… well, for quite a while, he didn’t want to risk turning his stomach.
He’d watched Kate balance plates on her arms, but he couldn’t find a way to make that work without dropping and smashing them on to the tiled floor, so he contented himself with haphazardly stacking them and carrying them over to the counter, where Kate was stood putting the finishing touches on a couple of plates of food — plates which looked far more appetizing at this end of the process than what was left on his stack.
“These okay here?” he asked, levering the pile onto the counter.
Kate just stared at him with wide eyes, as if no one had ever cleared a table for her before. He wasn’t sure whether he should be chastened or vindicated in his decision to help out, but he’d made it his mission now and so he ignored her stunned silence and turned back to survey the other tables that needed clearing. His parents did always say that he never lifted a finger, as if they didn’t employ a whole army of people to ensure that he didn’t and would be embarrassed if he did, since it was unbecoming of a prince to do menial labor.
If only they could see him now…
CHAPTER5
KATE
Kate wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating. It had been a busy day and it was hot out. Maybe she hadn’t drunk enough water? When the handsome stranger with the European accent had walked into the cafe, she’d certainly been intrigued. You didn’t see many unfamiliar faces in Miller Springs, and the ones you did see were very rarely as handsome as his.
He was all perfectly coiffed hair and designer stubble, which wasn’t really the Miller Springs look. They didn’t really go in for designer anything here. Despite herself, despite her stressful day, Kate had felt a zip of attraction towards him as he’d requested his table. It had almost made her laugh; the people of Miller Springs didn’t stand on ceremony. Almost everyone who visited was a regular, so they just seated themselves. But not this man. He was clearly from another world.
And now? Now he was clearing tables. Inhercafe. She’d come back to the counter to find a stack of them ready and waiting. Piled a little haphazardly, sure — he definitely didn’t have experience waiting tables, that much was obvious — but there all the same. Ready for her to stack straight into the dishwasher. One less thing for her to do. It shouldn’t make her so grateful. Or so suspicious. Kate could barely get her employees to do their job, when they actually showed up, so a complete stranger just jumping in and helping her seemed completely alien.
There were still meals to cook and tables to serve and bills to give out, but she stood and watched in amazement as he asked a baffled Mr. and Mrs. Lucas if they were done with their plates and, upon their nods, he swept them up and carried them over to where she was standing, depositing them onto the counter with a flourish.
“You really don’t have to do that,” Kate blurted out, as he gave her a lopsided grin, almost like a puppy who wanted a treat for doing a trick. Her heart jumped at the sight. Her heart and a few other, lower parts, too…
“I want to help out.” He shrugged, as if it were no big deal.
It was a few plates. It shouldn’t be a big deal. But, somehow, it was. It was… too much. She had to make him stop. Customers didn’t clear plates. Kate cleared the plates. You know, when she got a second to do so.
“It’s not your job.” The words came out a little brusquer than she intended, but he didn’t flinch.
He just gave her a wink.
A wink.
Who was this man?
Where had he come from?
“Ah, but the quicker all of this is taken care of, the quicker I will get my coffee, no?”
“Shit. Sorry.” Kate felt her face flush. After all that, she’d forgotten his coffee.
But he simply laughed as if it was no big deal. “I’ve got nowhere to be, don’t worry about it.”
That grin again. Kate could feel butterflies taking up residence in her stomach, and she suddenly felt very exposed at the counter where the whole town could see her. Usually, she loved living in a small town. She loved the camaraderie. The safety. But right now? She didn’t want the gossip to start spreading about the perpetually single cafe owner and the handsome stranger. It would only take a whisper. A hint. And then she wouldn’t hear the end of it for weeks. Not a problem for the stranger, who would no doubt be long gone by the time the rumor mill started up.
Not that his arrival wouldn’t spark some interest on its own. The man standing in front of her was possibly the most attractive person she’d ever seen in real life. Hell, he was more attractive than half of the people she’d seen on TV, too. He looked like some sort of Disney prince, if Disney princes wore leather jackets and had a flirty look in their eyes. Kate still wasn’t a hundred percent convinced that she hadn’t hallucinated him, but a furtive look around the cafe proved that there were other eyes on him, too. She hadn’t just dreamt him up in a stress fever.
“I’ll put a fresh pot on. Please, sit down and I’ll bring it over,” Kate urged him, bustling around to do just that, distracting herself from his gaze and his smile and his… well, his everything.
“It’s much appreciated.” He gave her a little salute and then returned to his table.
Kate snuck a glance as he walked away, biting her lip at the way that his ass filled his jeans. When she looked away, she locked eyes with Mrs. Lucas, who gave her a knowing look, and Kate flushed with embarrassment at having been caught staring. How could she not, though? It wasn’t every day that a man like that walked into the cafe. In fact, this was the first time it had happened in the eight years that she had worked here.
She took a deep breath to center herself as the coffee brewed. The lunch rush was starting to end, which would give her a little bit of time to catch up on orders and on cleaning up before the afternoon crowd made their way in. Only a few short hours until she could take a hot shower and collapse in front of the TV with a pile of Pop Tarts. After cooking all day in the cafe, she could never bring herself to make a nutritious meal in the evenings. There were sometimes leftovers that she took upstairs with her but if not, it was cereal and pastries all the way. Her mother would be disgusted, which was part of the reason why she didn’t feel any guilt about it.
Cup of coffee in hand, Kate made her way over to the stranger’s table. He watched her all the while, which only made her cheeks flame more. She couldn’t place the look on his face, but she hoped that it was the coffee he was looking longingly at, rather than her. The full force of his attention felt like too much, like her skin was too small for her body, making her aware of every little movement.
